|'''Overview''' || Students will learn about user experience fundamentals and then interact with an existing open source software project to perform a Usability Review. A usability review involves observing a user (another student) while they attempt to use the software, and recording observations. The students will create a Usability Report that details their observations in a structured manner, and pulls together a larger understanding of the results.

|'''Overview''' || Students will learn about user experience fundamentals and then interact with an existing open source software project to perform a Usability Review. A usability review involves observing a user (another student) while they attempt to use the software, and recording observations. The students will create a Usability Report that details their observations in a structured manner, and pulls together a larger understanding of the results.

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|'''Prerequisite Knowledge''' || Prior to attempting this activity, students need to know

|'''Prerequisite Knowledge''' || Prior to attempting this activity, students need to know

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* How to draw a mock-up of a user interace using a simple drawing tool (such as LucidChart, draw.io, etc.)

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* Have used any desktop-based Operating System

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|'''Learning Objectives''' || After completing this activity, students should

|'''Learning Objectives''' || After completing this activity, students should

Revision as of 15:25, 28 May 2015

Non-CS Majors, Business, Information Systems students; The activity and choice of software could easily be modified to handle more technically knowledged audiences

Overview

Students will learn about user experience fundamentals and then interact with an existing open source software project to perform a Usability Review. A usability review involves observing a user (another student) while they attempt to use the software, and recording observations. The students will create a Usability Report that details their observations in a structured manner, and pulls together a larger understanding of the results.

Prerequisite Knowledge

Prior to attempting this activity, students need to know

Have used any desktop-based Operating System

Learning Objectives

After completing this activity, students should

Be able to describe what is meant by the term "user experience", why it is important, and specific challenges faced by open source software

Understand the complexity of user testing and the variety of testing that can be done with usability testing

Appreciate the fact that the desktop environment is completely separate from the operating system in Linux

Might be helpful for students to conduct a FOSS Field Trip type activity, such as OS_Project_Comparison_Activity, to learn more about this or other open source projects before working with it

What is the rational for this activity?
Usability is an important topic for ensuring the quality of software. With start-ups and open source organizations, unfortunately, they can overlook this inadvertantly. We are asking students to participate in user testing. Nielsen's article describes a three step process of what this involves: identifying representative users, asking them to perform representative tasks, and finally observing their interactions without interference.

Helpful hints for faculty:

There will be some prep work required to ensure that the software being tested is installed or otherwise available to the students. For example, one option would be to have Fedora with GNOME 3 on a USB stick for the students to use.

This activity can be enhanced by having the instructor develop a relationship with members of a specific open source community. This would allow opportunities such as

Having a conference call with open source community manager to answer student questions about the project

Having a conference call with users of the open source project that describes how they use it and what issues they have with the software

Having the opportunity of suggestions getting accepted back into the community

If your students feel that they have found a gaping hole in the usability of the software, this could be a great opportunity to provide feedback to open source community. This could be in the form of a bug. Please see TBD on how to create a bug.

Observer: Note what the participant does AND what the outcomes were. For example, how many places did they click before getting to the correct place (wrong turns)? How long did it take to complete the task? Did they complete the task? How happy was the participant when doing the work? For example: "On task 5, user first tried to look at Desktop. Then, user tried to look at Taskbar and didn't find it there."

Students will complete a set of tasks without any instructions

Open a terminal

Create a text file

Make a directory or folder

Search for and launch the application "GIMP", an open-source image manipulation tool similar to PhotoShop

Launch a Web Browser

Using the Web Browser, find a picture of the Linux Penguin and save it to the computer

Insert the picture into a word processing package

Deliverables:

What will the student hand in?

Each group would do complete a usability report for each desktop environment that is reviewed. The table below provides a sample.

Name of User

Name of the Desktop Environment

Prior experience with this Desktop Environment:

(None, Seen it before, Frequent user, Expert user)

Task to perform

Time to completion

(max= 5 minutes)

Number of

wrong turns

Level of User Satisfaction

(1: frustrated,
5: Very Happy)

What steps did the user take? Please list all steps, even wrong turns

1. Open a terminal

2. Create a text file and add your name

3. Make a directory or folder

4. Search for and launch the application "GIMP",

an open source image manipulation tool similar to PhotoShop

5. Launch a Web Browser

6. Using the Web Browser, find a picture of the Linux penguin and save it to the computer

7. Insert the picture into a word processing package

Assessment:

How will the activity be graded?

How will learning will be measured?

Include sample assessment questions/rubrics.

Comments:

What should the instructor know before using this activity?

What are some likely difficulties that an instructor may encounter using this activity?